Reporters share their favorite Sheldon Silver stories

Sheldon Silver is one of New York’s 20 most influential politicians of the past 20 years. See the full list.

The late former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has a complicated legacy, to put it lightly. The impact of more than two decades of leading his chamber as a feared and powerful figure didn’t simply dissipate after his 2015 arrest on corruption charges. During his time in the chamber, Silver loomed large, both in his influence and in his personality. Few know that better than the journalists who covered him. Here are a couple of their stories.

– Rebecca C. Lewis

Zack Fink, Former reporter, NY1

In December 2012, the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School unfolded in neighboring Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot and killed, including 20 children. It was an appalling act of violence, and Democrats in New York decided it was time to respond with stricter gun control laws.

A month later, just days into the start of the new legislative session, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, negotiated and passed what came to be known as the NY SAFE Act. Not only would New York have the strictest gun laws in the nation, but New York was also the first state to act following Sandy Hook.

But in their haste to get the law passed, lawmakers and Cuomo included a dubious restriction that required a maximum of seven-round magazines. Gun manufacturers don’t generally design cartridges to hold seven; it’s usually 10. Backlash ensued and as budget negotiations got underway that March, Cuomo would huddle with Silver and the other leaders as they negotiated the state spending plan.

I was a reporter at the time, working for NY1 and covering the state Capitol. When a “leaders meeting” was held on the second floor, reporters would stake it out in the hopes that as they emerged from the meeting, one of the conference leaders might drop a clue as to what was being discussed.

When Silver walked out of a leaders meeting one afternoon, we asked what was holding up the budget. Never one for many words, he simply opened his mouth and said in his signature gravelly voice, “magazines.” What followed was an enormous ear-to-ear grin from the speaker evoking the Grinch who stole Christmas. We later confirmed that revocation of the seven-round limit was indeed the subject of negotiations, a blow to Cuomo, who had wanted to make such a big splash with the new law and avoid any negative press about it.

Silver knew exactly what he was doing when he dropped that information – right outside Cuomo’s office.

Zack Fink is the director of external affairs at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron.

Robert Gavin, Albany Bureau Chief, The Buffalo News

In 2005, while working as the Albany reporter for the Staten Island Advance, I covered the state’s Conservative Party meeting in a hotel on Wolf Road outside Albany. Staten Island’s borough president at the time, Jim Molinaro, was a high-ranking member of the party.

I was getting ready to leave when I ran into Sheldon Silver and Pat Lynch, his longtime former top aide, a major lobbyist and, according to published reports several years later, a woman with whom he was allegedly having an extramarital affair.

I think they were both surprised to see me. Out of nowhere, Silver asked, “Would you like to join us?”

Sit down and have coffee with the speaker – at the time the most powerful Democrat in the state?

Sure.

He had become speaker in 1994, the same year I went to Albany as a SUNY New Paltz student writing for the Legislative Gazette, a weekly newspaper covering state government. I was there when he put a home rule message on Staten Island secession, which would forever define him among backers of that movement. I was there in 2000 when Michael Bragman, the Assembly majority leader, announced his coup five days in advance. I watched his “reform caucus” drop from purportedly 50 strong to 19 to eventually about three lawmakers.

The three of us sat at a table and drank coffee. Silver was personable – far more friendly than at his news conferences where depending on the volume of his voice, you could tell how budget talks were going. Loud? Not good. Low? Good sign. Almost inaudible? A budget deal was close.

On this night at the end of January, Silver spoke clearly. He divulged that due to security reasons, such as threats, he moved around a lot to different hotels while in Albany. Before we finished coffee, he gave me a heads up on a leaders meeting happening the next day. It had not been publicly known.

I got an exclusive – in more ways than one. Coffee with Silver was definitely something I did not have on my bingo card.